what do a bee and myself have in common?

busyness, by jove - busyness. what have i been doing with my time, you might ask?

well - since we have a moving date and a house, i've been packing, cleaning, and preparing for a yard sale on saturday. yay! stuff will be sold. what isn't sold will go the way of the goodwill. down with clutter!! it doesn't look like we have that much stuff, but i'm still working on the living room - and i've been working (granted, disjointedly) for 3 days. i'm still not finished. t's disheartening - moving is. it takes so long, and you start to think that you're a total and complete slob - no matter how clean you attempt to be. i mean - i clean on a daily basis. sweeping and that sort of thing. i realize we have 7 animals running around this place, but still - i clean all the time. and yet - when i move the books from the shelves - there are dust bunnies at every turn. DUST EVERYWHERE. it's driving me batty. it looks like i'm some sort of total and complete slob.

sort of related - domino is one of my favorite magazines as of late. it's a home decor rag. looking at the beautiful designs - the stunning houses with funky but inviting decor makes me salivate for decent furniture. never one to buy expensive furniture (with the exception of our bed and mattress) - jim and i have many, many cheapo pieces of furniture. we also have quite a bit of hand-me down furniture that's perfectly functional but outdated in paint, etc. we have nice (but cheap) bookshelves from target and that sort of thing. we also have some decent furniture that's in poor shape - like my dresser (i purchased it from goodwill for $10 back in the day). at any rate, reading domino magazine has given me the courage to try and redo some of the smaller pieces of furniture myself. for instance, we have a heinous, gigantic, 70's era dark wood dining table. i would love to replace it with something more modern and attractive. unfortunately, i do not have $200-1000 to plunk down on furniture. luckily, i won't need an official desk where we're moving, so we're going to use jim's desk (which is really a dark walnut dining table with simple, clean lines) as our table (and he will inherit my old desk). i've been haunting goodwill/salvation army/KARM/and AmVet for cheap mismatched chairs that i can paint and re-upholster to make a non-matched but uber-cute set. above is the first victim - before and after. i'm really proud of the outcome. so much that i'm on a rampage now. we have two little end tables (see one in the picture) that we inherited from jim's parents. they're quite functional and sturdy, but the stain is peeling away and they look a bit ragged. no fear! i painted one today. it looks great. when i'm finished stenciling on it, i'll post pics of it too.

must give a shout out to lowe's - they were totally helpful, given that i know absolutely NOTHING about painting and had to ask a thousand questions like how and why to prime wood and what kind of paintbrushes should i buy and is staining wood hard and do i have to strip it first or something...and on and on and on.

i'm turning into a domestic goddess, as my mother phrased it. i've been cooking breakfast and dinner almost every night. i tried a stuffed chicken breast marinara recipe which turned out well (stuffed with spinach, mozzarella, ricotta, etc). currently, a meatloaf is aromatizing the house. i don't think i've EVER made meatloaf. it was never one of my favorite dishes. although my mother-in-law has a spectacular recipe that i need to try. luckily, i have a husband that is totally down with eating whatever i cook. unfortunately, he's not the most discriminating guy in the world - though i love him so:)

kitten went to his new home yesterday. it was like ripping a band-aid off. i had to leave him with his new owners. a veterinary technician from school took him home, so i know he'll have a good life. i do miss him so, though. he was a nice little diversion to have around. he loved the moving boxes and took great pleasure in hiding behind them, only to come prancing out sideways with his back arched... **sigh** i wish i could keep them all.

anyway, i have painting to finish. later.